.

I want you to know what’s happening…

From what might be a news desk, an office, a bedroom, a bunker under a mountain or a theatre, two people – reporters, senators, freedom fighters, or just… well… concerned citizens like you – think about what it is to speak up, speak out, blow the whistle and lift the veil.

A MACHINE THEY’RE SECRETLY BUILDING charts a course from the Top Secret secrets of WWI intelligence (via the moon, 1972’s Chess World Championships, a disco in Oklahoma and the cafeteria at CERN) through to 9/11, the erosion of privacy, Edward Snowden and the terror of a future that might already be upon us.

Proto-type have combined original text and classified intelligence documents with film from digital artist Adam York Gregory, and music and sound design by Paul J. Rogers, to vent their frustration at the insidious machine of surveillance.

A MACHINE THEY’RE SECRETLY BUILDING is about how we got to the point where our governments are spying on us and how that’s changing who we are.

**** “This smartly intelligent hour-long whizz through the world of surveillance, and the way governments legitimise spying on their citizens, makes you question what we mean by a terrorist and where the real threat lies… This is coolly reasoned theatre, produced by Proto-type Theater with stylish aplomb.” –Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

“A great antidote to 2017’s tangled political and cultural landscape.” – Exeunt

**** “The kind of theatre that seeps into the sub-conscious.” – The List

**** “We are being called to arms. A Machine… is an alarm clock, waking us up.” – The Wee Review

“a sharing of disbelief, an articulate wail of anger” – British Theatre Guide

A Machine they’re Secretly Building was Commissioned by Lincoln Performing Arts Centre (Lincoln), Warwick Arts Centre (Warwick) and hÅb (Manchester. Supported by Tramway, Glasgow, Lancaster Arts at Lancaster University, the Britten-Pears Foundation and the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Premiered in Spring 2016 – touring the UK throughout 2017.

Response

AUDIENCE COMMENTS:

“Intelligent agitprop… a eulogy from the end of history”

“Think Adam Curtis meets Chris Thorpe meets Proto-type!”

“Loved new show by Proto-type. Framed by fact & tin foil, fictional futures. Drove home conscious of every CCTV camera.”

“…after an hour in the company of Rachel Baynton and Gillian Lees you may want to go off grid, head to the woods and never touch a keyboard ever again! Based on Edward Snowden’s revelation of the US government’s “massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building”, writer (and director) Andrew Westerside’s history of State surveillance is both revelatory and deeply disturbing… Baynton and Lees’ performances are compelling, their softly spoken words carefully pitched to have us learn forward in our seat to hear every word. They use charm and humour to disarm us but make no mistake, their message is forceful, their campaign as vivid as the lurid pink balaclavas they often don.” – Glen Pearce, The Reviews Hub

“Simple but striking… unflinching and important.” – Megan Vaughan

“I think that we’re all broadly aware of the vast level of surveillance that the government subjects us to. The strength of A Machine They’re Secretly Building, however, is that their humour and simple, compelling performance presents the facts plainly and directly challenges any sense that this is something that we can simply ignore, or pretend does not apply to ‘people like us’ … a bombastic, dynamic explanation of world affairs since Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013.” – SCAN, Lancaster University

“Through an expertly researched script and shrewd delivery, A Machine they’re Secretly Building gives a solid attempt to galvanise us into action. It is a compact, harsh assault on our conscience, wrapped in an accessible, attention grabbing package.” – Charlie Salter, Salter Ego